I-800

Today, I decided to call the National Benefits Center of the Department of Homeland Security to check on our I-800 paperwork.  I spoke with a very sweet officer who informed me that our paperwork had arrived and Amelia had been assigned an alien number.  She also told us that our file had not reached our officer's desk yet.  She predicts that our officer should get it tomorrow.  According to the sweet officer (yes, I do know her name but am not sure I should say it), the I-800 should take a couple of days to approve, and then they send it to the National Visa Center.  She gave me my officer's information, and I decided to email her a little note requesting that she let me know when our paperwork is sent.  Hopefully, she will let me know and I can check another step off of our list.  

Here is a picture of Amelia taken in April when she was 9-months.

 

Good News in the Mail and Updates

We receipt our I-800 receipt today from Homeland Security.  This means that our paperwork was received and it has been forwarded to the Hague Adoption Unit in Missouri.  We now wait for the official approval of this document so that Amelia's visa can be issued.  Please pray that this will come soon so that we can be one step closer to travel.

Another piece of mail that we received today was our first baby shower invitation!  One of our sweet church members, Pam, sent out the invitations for our church shower.  We are so blessed to have friends who are as excited as we are about Amelia's arrival!

On another note, I was able to accomplish a couple of things this week.  The first is that I sent Amelia her first care package!  I included a pair of Gap footie pajamas, candy for the nannies, a disposable camera (hopefully they will take pictures for us), a flash drive for any digital pictures they have or will take, a family photo board book that I made this summer so she will be familiar with our faces, a small stuffed toy, a teething ring, and a note that was translated into a Mandarin by our our friend's mother explaining what each item was for.  I also included a list of questions for Lily, the package deliverer, to have answered for us by the orphanage director and nannies.  I forgot to take a picture of the items in the package, but I quickly took a picture of the package at the post office before I mailed it.

The second thing is that we were able to get Amelia into the daycare of our choice yesterday!  She is officially on the list to attend God's House in the fall.  I have several friends who have children who attend or have attended God's House, and everyone has such wonderful things to say about their program.  My grandmother started the school many years ago, and I am happy to say that Amelia will be able to attend the preschool and kindergarten programs.

David's mother, RuRu, purchased Amelia's christening gown for her.  Isn't it so beautiful!  I can't wait to have her wear it during her adoption and christening services.

LOA!!!

Psalm 100:4 - Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.

I have prayed from the start of this process that we would received a fast Letter of Acceptance (LOA).  Well, my prayers were answered with the fasted LOA on record - 4 days!  That's right - 4 days!  This part of the referral process usually takes 30-90 days.  I have heard of a few families who received LOA in less, but not many.  David has believed that ours would be fast from the start and I will be the first to say that he is completely right! 

I received an email from Karla this morning asking me to call her as soon as I could.  Since we just turned in our I-800 paperwork for Homeland Security/Immigration yesterday, I thought that there might be a problem with the paperwork.  I would never have guessed that she had such great news for us.  After playing phone tag for 5 minutes, I was able to speak to Karla.  She explained that the LOA was here and I needed to come sign it.  Fortunately, the bell was about to ring to begin my planning block.  I raced over to Lifeline and saw the official document.  Karla explained where to sign and the next steps.  Standing in the lobby with Karla, it hit me that this was truly real.  After waiting for so long, I haven't allowed myself to completely believe that David and I have actually accepted a precious little girl who is our daughter.  We have a daughter and I now have a piece of paper with a check mark in a box that says we accept this child as our own.  It is almost official - we just have to get approval for Amelia to come into the country and travel to get her. 

The paperwork has been signed and delivered to Homeland Security with our I-800 paperwork.  We now wait for Homeland Security to grant approval for us to bring Amelia into the country.  Karla feels confident that we should travel to China in mid to late December.  There is a big chance that we will spend Christmas in China. I'm not sure how our families feel about this, but I hope that they will be willing to hold off on celebrating Christmas until we return.  I would love to be able to celebrate Amelia's first Christmas this year with our families!

Pre-Approval!

Our pre-approval finally came!  I woke up this morning and checked my email and found a wonderful surprise!  We were pre-approved!  This means that China has officially matched us with Amelia.  We now fill out more paperwork and wait for the official letter of approval from China.  Please pray that this approval comes quickly.

We would like to introduce you to our daughter, Amelia Mae Howard, born June 22, 2011 in Chongqing, China.  We hope to bring her home at the end of December or beginning of January.

We ask that you please pray for our us and especially Amelia as we begin this transition into the new world of being a forever family.